Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack released a joint letter urging ocean carriers to cooperate with importers and exporters. The letter documented that the Pacific Coast ports of Oakland and Portland were denied service by a number of carriers resulting in supply chain congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Denial of service increases shipping costs along the Pacific seaboard with fewer containers available to ship U.S. agricultural commodities.
The Western Growers Association and United Fresh support the position of the two Secretaries and urge the Administration to improve service. Both organizations point to recent passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act by the House of Representatives with subsequent adoption by the Senate a forgone conclusion.